Select Local Merchants

The story of Formella Gourmet begins more than 100 years ago, when Sicilian Enrico Formella immigrated to the U.S. from Sicily. While on the voyage across the Atlantic, he married his wife Rosina and unknowingly clinched his position as a global distributor of fine Italian food. It began with the couple?s giardiniera recipe, which ascended to stardom in the South Side of Chicago. That's where the couple put down roots. Since the fateful day in 1909 when Formella decided to make his family?s cooking his business, ownership of the empire has passed to three grandsons. Together since the first half of the 20th century, they?ve preserved the family?s recipes for pasta sauce, stuffed olives, bruschetta spreads, and escaping Chicago's intense Model-T traffic jams.

This bi-flavored Groupon busts out of a kernel and puffs up happy-heated. For $11, you get a two-pack popcorn canister (normally $19.95) from Wells Street Popcorn, the snacky specialist with four flavors of old-fashioned popped corn. Choose caramel, cheese, traditional, or Chicago mix popcorn to fill each 2/3 gallon canister, which weigh about 1.5 pounds when filled with caramel popcorn and has about as much popcorn as would fit inside 5.8 grapefruits, 1.8 cantaloupes, or 2.7 cantafruits.

Gary Poppins's popcorn proprietor draws upon the tongue-pleasing know-how he garnered at the Culinary Institute of America to outfit freshly burst kernels in classic coatings and creative flavors, dreaming up creations that have been praised by New York's Daily News and snatched from the shelves of specialty stores. The shop mixes up 24 different flavors, from traditional Chicago-style favorites such as cheddar to honey-mustard popcorn that combines stone-ground mustard and the tears of a dramatic queen bee. The shop also purveys roasted nuts, available plain or frosted with a blend of cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla that spreads its heavenly scent without the bitter taste of a pine-tree car air freshener.

Jeff Dreyfuss and his son Tony each discovered a love of coffee independently. Jeff fell in love with the dark brew on after-class sojourns at local coffee shops during his tenure as an Indonesian Language Professor at the University of Washington-Seattle. Tony got his first taste of obsession when he landed a job sweeping floors in a coffee shop while contemplating what to do with his philosophy degree. The two talked to each other about coffee constantly, eventually finding the mutual inspiration to take the plunge into the roasting and brewing business. They opened Metropolis Coffee in 2001 to share their bean-driven bliss with the world.
The team purchases their coffee directly from farmers, but doesn’t expose a single bean to heat until the crop arrives at the roasting facility in Chicago. Once there, they roast the coffee in small batches to order, ensuring that each cup brewed in-house or bag of beans for savoring at home came out of the roaster no earlier than the day before. Each barista first learns to appreciate the roasting process—and its tasty results—with hands-on training in the roasting facility before setting foot behind the counter at the company's Edgewater café. Armed with a beginning-to-end understanding of coffee creation, the drinksmiths brew and serve well-balanced beverages for coffee aficionados at an espresso-scented hangout that Time Out Chicago calls "outstanding."

The Chicago branch of Gray Line's global sightseeing operation organizes a wide variety of tours and excursions throughout the Windy City, from architectural tours that send passengers coasting on the river and lake for sun-drenched educational cruises to shopping odysseys at Chicago Premium Outlets, where travelers can zip through more than 100 stores and restaurants after being shuttled to the retail utopia. Blues outings treat music lovers to raw licks, soul food, and real tears at celebrated concert venues such as Buddy Guy's Legends and Rosa's Lounge.
Gray Line's cherry-red trolleys transport visitors and residents alike to famous Chicago sites. Just north of the river, the vehicles idle before the Wrigley Building's sparkling white terra cotta façade, which in the 1920s stood as the first major skyscraper outside of The Loop. From there, the trolley may motor north to the John Hancock Center, where elevators to its observatory sweep guests 96 floors in 39 seconds. The trolley could also steer south to the Willis Tower, which lost its maiden name of Sears after being charmed by a passing cumulus cloud.

Since its inception in 1999, Adagio Teas has filled the cups of its ever-growing customer base with farm-fresh gourmet teas harvested from across the globe. Seasoned sippers and new tea drinkers alike gather around the fragrant vapors of Adagio's expansive selection, which includes thousands of unique green, chai, and herbal teas. In addition to its stockpile of potables, Adagio Teas puts an innovative spin on tea ware with a varied collection of ceramic sets, Asian-inspired pots, and electric kettles that purr when plugged in or tickled gently with unused leaves. Adagio Teas' products fill the virtual shelves of its online store, and can also be found in many gourmet and health-food shops.